Nortel had been trying to sell its Metro Ethernet Networks business unit since the fall, with no success. Last time, I pointed to an article that said Huawei was likely the most interested buyer, but also the least likely to be accepted, because of its roots.

You could argue that Nortel's timing was unfortunate, that it went looking for a buyer for the business unit at exactly the wrong time, just as the economy started looking really ugly. But really, Nortel has been trying to turn things around for much longer than that.